BruceyB

I do NOT want to see this decided by rideouts..

Can we get a warning on Bartlett?

That's a brutal call for Frost..

Ayala deserved a warning there.

Wow, I did not realize everyone that all 9 qualifiers are still alive. What a run. Wishing them luck tonight.

Jimmy, let me tell you something. You have my respect. I can't imagine being dedicated to this craft for so many years and to still approach each day with the enthusiasm and vigor you have for so long displayed. A lesser man would have succumb to the belittling remarks, insults, and sarcastic responses to your antics, but not you. You put in the work each and every day creating new threads daring to ask the questions that many others would even consider worth asking. For that, I salute you. Never change Jimmy. Never change.

I missed the Arnold fall. What happened there?

+ advancement, so 13 / 3.5 in total.

Perry with 5 in the semis and 9 of his 11 wrestlers are still going. Wow.

Young guys haven't been making world teams because they have had world medalists/champions blocking their way for the last quad and then some. Guys like Gilman, Lee, Green, Retherford, Dake, Burroughs, Taylor, Cox, Snyder.. it's not an indictment on folkstyle wrestling that other domestic wrestlers haven't been able to dethrone these legends.

I'm going to assume this is disingenuous.

1x AA/Champ

Only 1 of Braeden Davis, Nasir Bailey, and Evan Frost will AA.

At least LL and Davis losing here doesn't hurt Carl's record in the semis/finals.

I bet these boys wouldn't be running from Erin.

Woods and Eierman did not transfer to Iowa as seniors and each also had their best NCAA performance while donning the black and gold. Correlation does not equal causation, but still worth noting.

I agree with you. I think it's also so much different now than it was even 15 years ago. For the most part, 15 years ago guys wrestled their high school schedule, NWCA nationals, Fargo, and maybe another big event or two. Most blue-chip recruits would only be truly tested in a handful of matches each year in high school, and cruise their way through most of their high school careers. Now, guys are beating up their bodies through high school with things like WNO, 16u WTT, 20u WTT, Super-32, and already coming into college with more wear. They then beat their bodies down further by prolonging eligibility with the ease of medicals, covid-years, frequency of Olympic redshirts, etc. The rigor of a college wrestling schedule is not conducive to what a 24-25 year body requires to perform at it's peak.

To be fair, I am a huge KOT supporter, but I don't think this is a fair statement. KOT has a quality in him where he can just get it done. Even in his post-match interview, he acknowledged that he thought he might lose the match, but the difference between Norman and Keegan was that Norman tried to survive on his lead and shut down his own wrestling thinking he had enough separation to get the win. He did not. I think Lorenzo Norman is going to be an absolute force for the rest of this tournament and the next three, but this was likely a big learning lesson. That being said, I am very nervous for KOT assuming he makes the finals against either Hamiti or Haines.

I said it after CKLV.. I thought we was a problem. I was nervous for KOT when I saw the draw and that it was going to be an evening match when Norman was going to be feeling good. As for the original question, I can't recall a 1/4 Finals round that I have been as excited for as this. You have a number of guys who could be surprise semi-finalists, elite guys facing off in the quarters. It's always a good round, but this year it's a step above IMO.

125: Strickenberger 133: Romney 141: Jamison 149: Webster 174: Norman could be as I'm curious if his weird losses were due to weight issues. 197: AJ Ferrari says he'll be 215-220 Saturday night. Whether or not he's wrestling, we'll see. 285: Schultz

I'm sorry. I actually almost deleted it because it felt like too much salt in the wound. The hawks are back ahead now.

I missed who initiated the challenge.. when the swipes were wiped off the board, I assumed OKST challenged. Brutal turn of events.

20 points after two rounds is crazy. Flyingcement and Jmoney would be tied for 4th over Iowa.

Overall I think freestyle is a much easier sport to learn than folkstyle. You basically need to learn how to wrestle in neutral, learn a gut/lace, and defend a gut/lace, and largely gain a feel for avoiding exposure. You just don't need to wrestle the style your whole life to be the best in the world. Folk is much more nuanced and you have to be proficient in so many more positions to be successful. For the most part, even 15 years ago, guys would wrestle freestyle from March until April, and then maybe a training camp before Fargo. Freestyle was just a way to keep wrestling, but didn't garner nearly the focus that it does with today's athletes. How many guys were competing at cadet and junior worlds 15 years ago? Younger guys are wrestling plenty enough freestyle now to be ready to make world teams even while in college. The only reason we haven't seen more young guys making teams is because we've had so many stalwarts holding down weight classes for more than a quad. In my opinion, many of the attributes we credit wrestling for instilling in us as athletes derives from it being primarily folkstyle focused in the U.S. Wrestling gets credit for building toughness, discipline, hard work, etc. But you just don't necessarily need to have those attributes nearly as dialed in to have success in freestyle. Chamizo, Musukaev, and all of the other gassers throughout the years could never have the same kind of success that they've had in freestyle if they were to wrestle folkstyle unless that made changes to their training habits. That is what I think you'd lose in American wrestling culture if we switched fully to FS. You lose a lot of the toughness and grit that folkstyle instills.

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